Tag Archives | business marketing
Procrastination

Write Blog Posts Without Getting ‘Writer’s Block’

By on May 23, 2011 in Blog, Branding, marketing

Procrastination

When people come to me as a small business coach, the thing they want most is to get more clients. It makes sense; without a flow of clients you can’t make the money you need for your lifestyle.  One of the tools for business that most folks get in place pretty quickly is their blog. And from that point on your business can sometimes feel like really hard work.

It might sound crazy coming from a room full of high achieving entrepreneurs, but one of the conversations we had over dinner with our Mastermind group recently was that over half of these solopreneurs still found themselves staring at a blank screen when it comes time to write their blog posts!  I bet that makes you feel a bit better doesn’t it now?  Don’t worry – it hits all of us at one stage or another – what I’m talking about is ‘Writer’s Block”.

Why is this one client attraction tool so difficult when there is no doubt about the depth of knowledge you have on your area of expertise? I’m going to recommend some ways to help you create a list as long as your arm. So long that you will never wonder what to write about again!

It’s easy for you as a small business owner to dismiss the power of your blog.  Instead you should understand that you can actually blog your way to the bank. Your blog is a key driver for traffic to your website.  Google loves fresh and relevant content. So by writing several new blog posts each week, you can easily see an improvement in your organic search rankings. You can check this out by tracking your site with www.Alexa.com . Your blog is the ‘hub’ of your small business. In fact, to get more clients and make more money, as my mentor says,  “all roads should lead to your blog”.  By this I mean that any published posts, links, articles etc should all include a link to your blog where you also have the ability to capture visitors’ details.

To help you to attract more readers your blog posts can be informative, inspirational or humourous.  If you include a little of each of these, you will touch all of the different personality types. Places to draw inspiration on what to write about is easier than you think. Here’s three of the best:

  • Listen to your clients!! This is so obvious that most business owners overlook it.  Read the comments your clients leave you on Facebook, read the emails they send in with questions, read carefully what they are saying in any comments they leave on your current blog posts. What questions do you always get asked when you are at networking events?  All of these places offer an opportunity for you to expand or clarify topics in your niche.
  • Check out sites such as www.yahoo.answers.com and industry forums to see what questions are being asked by your target audience and then write a blog post to answer them from your perspective.  Search www.ezinearticles.com for articles in your niche and look for those with the highest searches. This shows that the topic is popular, so you can write your own post about it.
  • Personal experiences provide you with a perfect opportunity to attract clients through your own compelling message. Write about the things that you are passionate about and relate that to your topic and your readers will devour your posts like irresistible hot bread.

After your content is decided, the next thing is to make sure you maximize it for the search engines.

Be sure to include several of your keywords or phrases throughout your blog post. ‘Stacking’ keywords will get you in trouble so be sure the keywords you use are relevant and used in context.

There is ONE more simple strategy I want to tell you about that will boost your organic rankings by effectively using your blog post. Rather than tell you about it, I want to show you an example…..

I want you to scan up through this blog post and notice there are at least four keywords that have been hyperlinked to other blog posts on my site. This is often referred to as internal linking. This strategy encourages readers to click on these hyperlinks and browse further into your site. By readers staying on your site for longer, Google will give you a ‘thumbs up’ for relevancy and this will boost your organic rankings.

Client Building Action Steps:

  • Set aside a regular time that you commit to writing at least 2 blog posts per week
  • Follow the blogs of leaders in your field and contribute to the comments
  • Research using the strategies above to make a list of 30 new blog post titles to have ready to go

You can now easily add your comment below and tell me if you found any of these tips helpful…

 What Did You Think?

Let us know your thoughts on today’s issue.
Post your comments below.

Remember – sharing is caring…

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Money in the Bank

Turn On The Money Tap In Your Small Business

By on March 30, 2011 in Business Success, marketing, productivity

Money in the Bank

Turn On The Money Tap

I’m in such a giving mood today so I’ve got something special for you.

It’s one of those days where I just feel good.

You know, the sun is shining, I can hear birds at the windows, I can hear the crashing of the waves from the beach from my front door, and I’m feeling like a child looking forward to holidays.

So this got me thinking of you; and I came up with something special if cash flow is a bit of a problem right now….

I know how amazing it feels when you have a rush of business that puts some cold hard cash in your bank account and I want you to have that feeling too!

Here are 7 ways to get the cash flowing your way.

1: Create an irresistible offer for your top 10% of your clients.

2: Reactive your lost or inactive customers – there is gold here.

3: Go back a few years and find a promotion that worked.

Recycle it.

4: Make a hit list of your ideal prospects. Go after them with an irresistible offer.

5: Actively search for those who have your ideal customers before you and after you. Do a deal.

6: Focus on the money. When you wake, ask yourself:   Where’s the money? On going to bed, do the same.

7: Take massive action. Don’t take a month to do this.

Do one a day. Create urgency in everything you do.

If you do the above 7 steps, there’s no way you are not going to make more money.

So ask your self:

How much do you want this?

How much do you want to bring a flood of cash into your business?

If you’re committed to the process, you’ll be surprised at just how much money you’ll bring in.

Even as heart-based entrepreneurs there is nothing wrong with focusing on the money. It’s just a formal way of calculating how much difference you are making by sharing your gift and expertise with more people.

Leave me you comments and let me know which of these 7 steps you are going to put into action first….

 

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Customer Loyalty: How To Get A Head Start

By on March 21, 2011 in Business Success, marketing, Sales Skills

Had you ever thought getting more clients is much like buying coffee from your favourite café?

One of my favourite things to do in my spare time is go out and enjoy a great cup of coffee while catching up with friends or chilling out with Murray. So it was no surprise the other day when I was at a little coffee shop and I was handed a ‘Loyalty Card’. I grinned as I thought to myself that at least they had some kind of simple marketing strategy in place. I’m sure you’ve all got your purses (or wallets) bulging with these loyalty cards too!

The difference between this card the other day and many others that fill my purse was that although I needed to have 10 stamps in place to get a free coffee, there were already two squares pre-stamped.  Their marketing plan was starting to take effect! The two pre-stamped squares gave me an immediate sense that I was already well on the way to my longer term outcome – the free coffee – I knew I would be back soon!

This is the same concept that you want to embrace with your clients.  While you may not operate with a loyalty or rewards card, the first step people take with you should be something that gives them an immediate sense of achievement.

Your first opportunity to do this is on your website where you should have your AFO (Awesome Free Offer).   Your AFO is what you give you prospects in exchange for their name and email.  It needs to be something that is so valuable that you could sell it as a stand alone product or service. It must give your prospects great results or be of great value.  This commitment from you to invest in your prospects results will repay you in their trust and loyalty.

Beyond your AFO, once you start working with a new client, any first step they take should be one where they can get great results. This will give you leverage to motivate them to continue with you because of what they feel the same as I did with the two pre-stamped squares – “I may as well continue, because I have already come this far/already done this much..…”.

This concept will work no matter what service you are in. I don’t want you to think your business is any different. It doesn’t matter whether you are cleaning your client’s house, washing their windows, creating web design, coaching them to a better life or building their online list.

Heck, this strategy works everywhere! Even as a parent, imagine if you want a child to do their homework each night in return for getting sticker. When they get 10 stickers they get to go to the movies. You’ll most likely find they are extra motivated if you start them off with two stickers even before your program begins.

No matter what your line of service is, your new clients will be more likely to stay loyal to you, stick to programs or tasks if you first offer them something that allows them to make progress right from the start.

If you use this simple marketing strategy, your influence will shine!

 

Design Your Profits Action Plan:

 

Define what the first step is for your clients

Decide how you can use their results to encourage them to continue with you

Conscientiously promote your ‘first step’ results to attract more clients

I’d love you to share with me your comments and thoughts below on some of the customer loyalty ideas you’ve had!

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Blog Traffic

Create A Blog That Others Visit

By on March 8, 2011 in Blog, Business Success, marketing, Uncategorized

Blog Traffic

Create A Blog That Others Visit!

If you’ve ever created a blog before, then you know that the saying, “build it and they will come” just isn’t true. However, you can get more clients interested in visiting your blog by following these five tips…

1. Offer good content.

By “good” content, I mean you should blog about topics that your audience wants to know about. To find out what they want, just follow these steps:

  • Find out what types of information products they’re already buying – then write blog posts on the same topic.
  • Use a keyword tool (like WordTracker) to find out what topics prospects in your niche are looking for.
  • Drop by busy niche forums and other blogs to see which topics are generating the most views and discussion.
  • Survey your readers to find out what they want.

In addition to great content you should use your blog as an opportunity to build relationships with more clients.  Let them see more of the ‘real’ you.

2. Update frequently.

Sometimes  solopreneurs and small business owners start a blog, post a flurry of articles and then abandon the blog for months at a time. If you allow dated posts, then your ideal clients aren’t likely to come back again if they notice that you don’t update regularly.  I’ve noticed myself that I always take note of the dates of the blogs and if there is no new content, I assume the person is not actively servicing their clients or growing their business.

What you need to do is dedicate a set time each week to posting to your blog at least twice a week. If you don’t want to be chained to your blog like this, then create the content ahead of time and automatically “drip” it to your audience using the pre-schedule option  on your website. You can hire a ghostwriter to write articles for you. I do give caution to this option though because it is important that all of your posts are in ‘your’ voice. It will take an excellent writer to be able to sound just like you.  You can hire a Virtual Assistant to help with the actual uploading of the blog posts to your website while you focus on more money making activities.

Point is, you need to post often to keep your blog from looking like a deserted island.

3. Create regular features.

Here’s a great way to turn a one-time visitor into a repeat visitor. Specifically, by creating “regular features” and multi-part blog posts that your visitors can look forward to.

Example: Maybe you create a seven-part article about how to make money with pay per click marketing. And maybe you space it out so that you’re posting one or two articles per week. You can bet that your readers will return at least once a week just to finish reading the series.

Another way to get more visitors is by creating a regular feature, such as a “tip of the week” feature or even a “questions from our readers” feature.

4. Write about hot topics.

One way to get a surge of traffic and increase in your blog is by writing about hot or even controversial topics. You can include relevant keywords and “ping” the blog directories (like technorati.com) to make sure that those who are searching for the hot topic see your post.

Another way to leverage a hot topic is by joining in on the blogosphere conversation. Simply find a popular blog discussing a hot topic, and use a trackback to add your response.

5. Get someone influential to endorse your blog.

Finally, you can get others to visit your blog by first getting someone influential in your niche to endorse you (and your blog). You can do this indirectly, such as by offering to be a guest author on the other person’s blog. Or you can ask your joint venture partners to directly endorse you on their blogs and in their newsletters (and you’ll return the favor).

It’s also a great idea to get a group of like minded friends to agree to all support each others blogs and use the T-L-C method.  That is, Tweet, Like and Comment on each others blogs.  This will make an amazing difference to your Alexa ranking and organic search rankings with Google.

This T-L-C approach is like free advertising. But it’s also extremely powerful, because you’re using social proof to increase your readership.

You just discovered five proven ways to get others to visit your blog – and to visit it again! Your next step is to take action.

Starting today, apply these tips… and then keep an eye on your traffic statistics!

Design Your Profits Action Plan:

  • Commit time to your calendar to produce at least two new blog posts every week.
  • Research topics your target market are already reading and interested in
  • Make up a group of at least three people to regularly T-L-C each other’s blogs

Start right now if you like by giving this blog post some T-L-C.  Tweet and Like are at the top of the post, and the Comment box is here below!

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Client Testimonials

Did you know people are talking about you….?

By on February 28, 2011 in Branding, Business Success, marketing

Client Testimonials

Did you know people are talking about you……?

A big key to getting more clients is to have everyone talking about you.

I’m sure there has been a time in your life when you would not have wanted to be the hot topic of conversation for everyone you met. To hear someone say “Oh, I know all about you…..” would have left you wishing a hole would open up in the floor and swallow you in.  Going back to school days, I was not what you would call a ‘centre of influence” and was more than happy to go about quietly and simply being me, and flying a little under the radar.

That was then…and this is now.  I still go about being ‘me’.  The difference now is that it is music to my ears when people say “Oh, I know all about you!”.

The more people are talking about you, the more your business will grow and grow. Of course I am assuming here that you provide a product or service that is well delivered and gets great results.

Testimonials from past clients are one of the powerful strategies that will increase your credibility.  It is amazing how often I find that small business owners and solepreneurs are afraid to ask for a testimonial from their clients.  You must overcome this fear because it’s an important step in your marketing strategies for getting more clients. Once you reach the point of having many clients who have experienced the brilliant results you can get for them, it’s very easy to find clients who will happily give you a great testimonial.

The biggest problem you might have is the ‘chicken or the egg’ syndrome.  It’s hard for you to get more clients without the testimonials, and yet you can’t get great testimonials until you get some more clients.

Here are some tips to get you off the ground and get great testimonials even if you are just starting up in business.

  • Ask someone that you know well, either personally or professionally, to give a testimonial based on your character, values and knowledge base. This means your prospects can decide if your area of expertise and values align with theirs.  These are often the core reasons why someone will want to work with you.

Let me give you an example.  There was one time when I invested high 5 figures into a mentoring program only to discover    that the core values of the Company didn’t match mine at all.  It was the biggest and most expensive learning curve I have ever had.  But needless to say, values and alignment are the things I check out right at the start when I’m thinking about working with someone either as a client, coach or mentor.

  • Carefully select a couple of ideal clients to experience your service on a scholarship arrangement (you don’t charge them) with the agreement that all you ask in return is for them to provide a testimonial. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
  • Capture comments that get left on your Facebook wall or emails sent to you and use them in your marketing material.  These comments are great because they are completely unrehearsed and truly come from the heart with no ‘staging’ at all.

This form of social proof will be far more valuable to you than the $000’s of dollars you might spend trying to attract new business through paid advertising.  Your testimonials should become a prominent feature on your website, sales pages, You Tube, brochures, flyers, and even on your business cards.   As you implement your strategic marketing plan and this material continues to be circulated, before you know it you will be the hot topic in town!

People will talk about you, so why not capture it and use it to increase your credibility and grow your business?

What should a great testimonial include?

  • What was your clients’ biggest challenge before working with you?
  • How do they see their future now that they have worked with you?
  • What were the three things they most liked about working with you?
  • Do they have any advice for others looking at solving the same problem?

Design Your Profits Action Plan:

  1. Capture some testimonials on video and load them up to You Tube for increased visibility
  2. Save all the emails you get from satisfied clients and use them in your marketing
  3. Check that you have testimonials on every piece of marketing material you have


What Did You Think?

Let us know your thoughts on today’s issue.
Post your comments below.

Remember – sharing is caring…

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Business Cards

Is Your Business Card Anything More Than Dead Wood?

By on February 21, 2011 in Branding, Business Planning, Business Success, marketing

Business Cards

Is Your Business Card Anything More Than Dead Wood?

This week has been a busy week on the networking scene for me so there has been business cards all over the place. Your business card is one of the least expensive forms of advertising you can use and yet it is nothing more than dead wood for many biz owners.

A business card is often one of the first things you rush out and get yourself when you are thinking about getting more customers. This is not a bad thing, it’s just that often, you might not have thought a lot about how to make it into an EFFECTIVE tool that will get you more clients, rather than it being one of the first things that people put into the bin when they clear out their jacket pockets.

Bringing all the elements of a great business card together is something that can be taken for granted.  Just this week, there was someone in my mastermind asking for feedback (great idea) on how to create a great business card.  Then the real eye opener was when I was at a networking function.  Here I am in a room full of esteemed business owners and there was a ‘business card draw’.  You know the kind – all put your cards in and they get drawn out for a variety of yummy prizes. (Unfortunately I didn’t get to be a winner!).  But here are the things I noticed.  Often the organizer had to take several moments and really search around on the card for the persons name or who they represented; and, a majority of the business cards were blank on the back.  This really upsets me!  So much so, that I felt compelled to share with you the key elements of a GREAT business card to you can send yours out there to work FOR your business, rather than being bin fillers.

Are you getting the most out of your cards? Ask yourself:

  • Is my business card easy to read? – When a potential client looks at your card can they find your name and phone number without squinting?
  • If your business name is not self explanatory about what you do, then use a ‘tag line’ or description of the results you can get for your prospects.
  • Does your card include a picture of yourself?  People buy from people they know, like and trust.  By having a picture of yourself of your card means that it is much easier for someone to remember who they were actually talking to instead of giving your business name or business logo the majority valuable space on your card.
  • Can a potential client find your main phone number on the card? Do you really need all those phone numbers? If you get 1 fax a month, dump the fax number off the card. If you don’t have a storefront, consider dropping the street address.
  • Is the information correct? – Don’t cross out and write over on your cards, spend the money and have them reprinted. It makes you look unprofessional.
  • Should I print on the back of the card? ABSOLUTELY!  This is the perfect spot for you to include some ‘pull’ marketing questions like:

“Are you serious about putting more money in the bank?”

“Would you like to take years off your age?”

“How great would it be to find an extra 2 hours in every day?”

Other things to include on the back if space is available:

Testimonials

The back of your card is also a great spot to direct prospects to you FREE offer on your website.

  • Is the text readable? If you vary from a white background make sure the text color is still legible. Black letters on blue backgrounds don’t make for easy to use cards. And don’t use scrolled fonts or italics, both of which can make text difficult to decipher.
  • Avoid scribbling information all over a business card in front of its owner.  This can be seen as a lack of respect.  If you need to write a short note on the card, do it after you have both parted.

Make it your plan to collect more cards than what you give out.  You’ll get much better results by being interested in how you can help others rather than selling yourself and shoving a business card into every hand that is open.  Collecting cards will mean you can be in control of the follow up.

I like to think of business cards as ‘little soldiers’ that are working on your behalf to get your more clients even long after you have given them out.  People can pass them on to others and you have no control over how far they can go. So it only makes sense that they are well designed, accurate and informative.  After all, how exciting is it when the phone rings and someone says “I got given your card by a friend and would like to talk about what you can do”!

Your Client Building Task For The Week:

  • Check every piece of information on your business card to make sure it is accurate
  • Does your card tell people what you do for them or is it all about you?
  • Do you have a ‘call to action’, Eg:  Call NOW to… ,  Go to www…. To collect your…

What Did You Think?

Let us know your thoughts on today’s issue.
Post your comments below.

Remember – sharing is caring…

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Speaking for Credibility

Get Known and Get Clients

By on February 14, 2011 in Branding, Business Planning, Business Success, marketing, Sales Skills

Speaking for Credibility

Get Known and Get Clients

Are you up all hours of the night wondering when you’ll ever get yourself noticed by the rest of the world?

It can be really frustrating when you think that there are other people in business who seem to have all the ‘buzz’ around them and you are still trying to get just a few more clients.

Maybe you don’t feel confident enough in your ‘expertise’ to get out there in a big way and get the ‘buzz’ happening.  Let me ask you this question – Are you are happy in your product or service and how you can deliver and get the results you say you can?  Then this is one way that will give you credibility and confidence quicker than you think.

Some of you are going to cringe when I say this… but I have no doubt in my mind that speaking is one of the best ways I know to get more clients and gain credibility. Now before you shut off and say “Oh I couldn’t possible speak!” I want you to hear me out.  When you know who your ideal audience is, it’s a brilliant opportunity for you to give a workshop, seminar or being a guest speaker about your topic and how to solve it.

Think about it.  If your ideal client has a dilemma and you are offering up information on the solution, it only makes sense that they would come to the event or listen to what you have to say.  And once they hear what you have to say, you suddenly have a room full of people who are going to create buzz around your topic.

There are many opportunities for you to offer yourself as a guest speaker.  It doesn’t have to be to a big audience, you can start out very small.  There are associations and groups that your ideal client is part of that you can approach.  Many of these groups are just tearing their hair out trying to find great guest speakers, so you are in fact helping them out.

As you decide on your topic, develop what’s called a ‘Signature Talk’.  This will be a talk that you can give over and over again with slight variations depending on who your audience is.  It’s one that you can feel comfortable with and can really master. It also means you don’t have to prepare completely brand new content every time you speak. With time, you will actually become very well known for your Signature Talk and start to attract large audiences, and get more and more clients.

You can also use your Signature Talk to speak ‘virtually’.  By giving a class or teleseminar on conference call service you can now reach a global audience.  This is one of the quickest and most cost effective ways to build your list. The great news is that you are also delivering massive value to your ideal clients too!

If you haven’t already included this tool into your simple marketing plan, it’s time to seriously consider it.  You don’t need to stress and worry that speaking to large groups is the only way to get results.  It’s okay to start out very small and talk to a group in a relaxed environment which might even be your home. I started small but now I speak in front of hundreds of people, get paid to travel and speak at conventions and conferences.  But it all started out with just a few in a small room.

I challenge you to come out from behind your computer, and work on this week’s action steps.

If you were to give a small talk to get started:

1.                 Where would you do it?

2.                 Who would you invite that would support you and give you a safe space to make mistakes?

3.                 What would you talk about?

I love to hear from you – leave your thoughts and comments below

 

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